Mark from Marketing and Sally from Sales have many customers at the trade show that need their constant attention. Their coworkers also want their frequent input on issues, and they feel the need to walk the expo floor to check out the competition. They also feel a lot of pressure to get face time and network with colleagues in the industry, and they are on the schedule for “booth duty.” On top of that, they just got the news that they are to do presentations on their product or service...15 times a day...on a microphone...in front of an audience!

“Oh great,” thinks Mark and Sally. But they are team-players and they will suck it up. It’s too bad the results from their presentations will be, ahem, mixed. After all, they’ll be thinking about all the other things they should be doing while they are presenting, which is NOT what they want to be doing. Mark and Sally are idea and implementation people, not crowd-pleasing spokespeople.

by Dana Johnson, Assistant Director of Sales of the Pfister Hotel, Hilton Milwaukee City Center, and InterContinental Milwaukee

As the trend continues upward in experiential travel, planners are tasked to find a way to keep their attendees from venturing away from the conference or meeting, by providing a unique opportunity to learn something new, entice their palate, and build deeper connections with their fellow attendees. This concept has evolved well beyond the “frost your own cupcake” and “create your own granola” break packages. It has matured into precisely executed and purposeful events that engage attendees’ minds and palates on a deeper level.